This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking God's will in relationships, highlighting the dangers of sexual immorality, the need for purity, and the impact of lust on individuals and marriages. It calls for repentance, humility, and a return to God's standards in a culture filled with sexual perversion and deception. The speaker urges listeners to seek God wholeheartedly, to build trust in relationships, and to prioritize righteousness over worldly desires.

Lord, I just pray that you'd visit the service tonight. Lord, we desperately need you. Lord, the nation needs you. Lord, the church needs you. This valley needs you, dear Heavenly Father. I pray that you'd bring revival to us, Lord. Bring revival to our homes, Lord. Bring revival to purity and have the blood-bought church of Jesus Christ begin standing up for what is right in this fallen and perverted culture, Lord. I pray for the strength to deliver this type of message, Lord. I pray that hearts would be broken, Lord, that lives would be changed tonight, that your Spirit would descend upon this place, Lord, and we would leave here different than when we arrived. Lord, we want to honor you. Lord, we want to cherish you. We want to look to your Word, and we thank you again for what your Son did on that cross, Lord, that allows us to experience the freedom from bondage and guilt and addiction. Lord, we look to you tonight. Please bring revival. Please bring hope to those who are hurting, Lord. Bring restoration, Lord. Your Word says that you will bring back those who are driven away. You will bind up the broken, and you will strengthen the sick, Lord, but the arrogant you will feed in judgment, and we pray for humility tonight. We pray that men will begin leaving their homes in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Lord, we pray that you change, Lord, this valley. Bring us closer to you, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, it's definitely a weighty topic tonight, and I'm sure you all saw the bulletin, and you said, oh my goodness, is he going to talk about that? Yep, I'm going to. I thought we'd lose half of you with the rain and the weather. It's good to see you tonight. But I want to say up front that there's a lot to unpack with this, so I'm going to walk cautiously. I'm going to walk slowly. I'm going to walk carefully, and I'm going to try to unpack important points and not get in a hurry. And like I was talking about to Russell at the beginning of the service, that it might go into part two. I'm not sure. I'm going to try to get it out. There's a lot to say, but I want to be sensitive to what I believe that God's putting on my heart and hopefully to use that to help convict and challenge many of us, myself included. But I can't really steal, I didn't steal the title, but I borrowed the title of this message. Many of the younger kids have heard of Mark Driscoll, and he taught on this, and he's wrote a book recently, and one of the chapters is called something like this. I think it's sex, gross, gift, or God, or something along those lines. But I thought it's so relevant because we fall, do you realize we fall in one of those three categories? And I talk about intimacy, sexual intimacy between a husband and wife, or if you're not married, or depending on your situation, it's either gross, or it's God to you, or it's a gift, or it is good. It's one of those three things. And I will submit to you that in our culture, it is God. The God of sexual immorality, the God of perversion is ruling and reigning in our culture today. And sadly, you see the church kind of drift in that direction too. You know, we'll get to that in a little bit, but I just want to encourage you guys to, we have to look to God's Word and to His standard. What does He say about this? Because if you look to the culture, you will be deceived. You'll be misled. You'll be thought something. You'll be sold a bill of goods that is no good. It's deception at its core, and the enemy likes to go in, and he likes to pervert the sexual orientation or this topic, because what God has made for good, and ultimately to glorify Him in the context of a man and a woman in marriage, has been perverted by our society and our culture. And I believe it's okay to talk about these topics, because we can't go run in a corner and hide from it as our kids are being exposed to pornography and as young as 8, 9, 10, 11 years old, knowing more about it than I did at that age. I mean, you'd have to go somewhere out in the desert, and friends would show you something they hid a long time ago, and it wasn't as prevalent as it is today. Young kids are being seen everywhere. And if you don't guard your homes, men, I'm often reminded of the Scripture. Some might say it's out of context, but I think of this often when I study on this topic for thinking about the household, when Jesus said, it's better for a millstone to be hung around your neck and cast into the sea than to ever lead one of these little ones astray. And as we as men, we're supposed to protect our home, protect our children, not help lead them astray, help give them the things that pervert them and bring all kinds of distortion to sexual intimacy. So with that said, let's look at God's Word. I'm going to be all over the place here, but there's a reason for it. I think God's Word is so relevant in this topic that it blows my mind, because I think sometimes we forget about these things. But we're going to start in 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7. Now Paul is writing, as you know, to the church in Corinth. It's a pretty, pretty, I don't know what I would call this church. It's a mixture of lukewarm, kind of letting everything go. Gifts are going crazy, and they're just, Paul's trying to bring them back. So he talks to them about this issue in the beginning part of chapter 7. Then he moves into divorce. Those who maybe their spouse has left, and then he goes into being single. So he kind of covers everything in chapter 7 and gets it all out of the way. But he's writing to the church in Corinth, and I want you to take specifically, take note to this first sentence. Now for the matters you wrote about, these people were looking to Paul for advice. Paul's saying, now concerning the matters that you wrote about, it is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. Now Paul, I don't think, is necessarily down-talking marriage. He's saying it is good for a man not to marry, because as we learn later in Corinthians, the single man or single woman cares for the things of God, how they might please the Lord. That's a single person's focus, should be not on dating and hooking up and meeting the next person, getting in and out of relationships, but seeking the Lord. Single life is invaluable. I look back, and me and Morgan joke about this often, I mean we would never change anything, but those single years of just no agenda, no things going on, people pressing for your time, but you could spend hours in the Word, hours in worship, and let God build and restore your life. So Paul's saying, I wish that you were as I am. And theologians are divided on if Paul was married and to hold his position as a Pharisee or Sadducee or religious leader, he would have had to have been married, and that's kind of irrelevant, I tend to agree with that. But for this, he's talking to those people in the church of Corinth, he's saying it's good for a man just not to marry, or a woman if you want to be single, because also they were facing a lot of persecution as well in the church. We talked about people being beheaded, martyred for their faith. We don't know that in America today. We get upset if there's not a parking spot out front. But back then in this culture, Christians were being killed for their faith. And to watch your wife die or your kids would be absolutely traumatic. So I think Paul's writing in that setting saying, listen, if you can remain single and focus wholly on the Lord, do it. Don't run to get married. However, Paul understands how God created us. He said it's better to marry than to burn with this passion and be sexual and immoral and doing all these different things. It's better to put yourself in marriage, because marriage then acts as a shelter, as a covering for these passions, God-given passions, but in the context of marriage between a man and a woman, how God created it. So it's a shelter, a safe haven, if you will, for these things. So Paul goes on to say in verse two, but since there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband, now this is a tricky one. A lot of people like to throw this out. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife and likewise the wife to her husband, talking about intimacy. The wife's body does not belong to her alone. And that's interesting. I think it's a New King James. This is the English Standard Version. I think the New King James just says that the wife's body does not belong to her. Well, I'm glad they put that word alone in there because it clarifies it's not hers alone, but his and the sexual union how God created, that God has created us for that purpose. And the man and the woman likewise should be open and honest and allow the other person to be available, for lack of a better word. So Paul's saying, listen, it's not just your own body and you can't just say, sorry, you've upset me all week. But understand that the man needs a certain thing and the woman needs a certain thing and not to put that to an end and not to say, sorry, too bad. And I meet couples that haven't had intimacy in months, if not a year sometimes. And it blows my mind, the reasons, the excuses and things. But Paul's saying, don't do that. Don't refrain from these areas. The wife's body does not belong to her alone, but also to her husband. Now husbands, in the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone, but also to his wife. Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent, both agreeing that for mutual consent we'll give ourselves away for a time of prayer and fasting, which seems a little odd. Let's refrain from that, but go into prayer and fasting. I mean, that's kind of challenging, I'm sure, but that's what Paul's saying here. And the reason, I think, is because any time you go into prayer and fasting, what you do is you're fighting the flesh. So I believe that Paul is putting the deeds of the flesh aside, these lusts aside, so you can focus on the Lord at time of prayer and fasting. That would be powerful. If you could fast from intimacy, food, these things, and just seek God wholly, I bet he would move. But both spouses have to consent with that. You can't be on a fasting program here for six months. You know, it has to be a mutual consent of what's going on. And of course, I'm not going to delve in too deep with this, because it's obviously the Rated G version, and because couples need to talk and come up with certain things on their own. I mean, I can't give out, you know, well, here's your checklist and do this in time frames. I mean, that's up to a couple to decide and prayerfully consider, and of course, a lot of different things come to play in that. Verse 5. Actually, let's go to verse 6. I say this as a concession, not as a command. And Paul's basically saying, I say this as a concession, not as a command. Some things he would say, as thus saith the Lord, versus, hey, this is my thoughts as Paul the Apostle, what I believe God's put on my heart. This is a concession, not necessarily a command. And that's a whole other topic there. Verse 7. I wish that all men, again, were as I am, single. But each man has his own gift from God, and another has that. In a nutshell, he's saying, be content with whatever situation God has put you in. Now, I know that was a lot, but let's unpack that a little bit. I want to talk about this first issue. He sought godly counsel. These people, the church in Corinth sought godly counsel, and I would encourage you, you must seek godly counsel, you must seek godly influence, because the enemy's coming in like a flood. The enemy's coming in with sexual perversion and distortion, and he's, and it begs the question, are we infecting, are we affecting, with an A, are we affecting the culture, or is the culture infecting us? So what's happening in the church, we're not being the salt and the light affecting the culture, the culture's coming in and infecting us. And we walk around as Christians with sexual orientations perverted and disordered, we're filling all our minds with all this kind of lust, and we wonder what's going on. It's because everything from a Carl's Jr. commercial to buying a car on TV, everything is filled with sex and perversion. I mean, I'm amazed at what pornography 30 years ago now fills the television screen on a nightly basis. You say, why do you shame, do you talk about these issues? Because I have to, for as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. I can't avoid this topic and not talk about the media or outside influences that are coming in like a flood. Thousands and thousands of images we're watching now, girls, they look at this, they look at Barbie, 36, 24, 36, and mom, this is how I have to look, and look at all this, and guys are dating and getting, we're just filling our kid's mind with all of this stuff. And we wonder why we're seeing divorce rates skyrocket, we wonder why sexual perversion is at an alarming rate, all these things, everybody's coming out of the closet, why can't we as Christians come out of the closet and say, according to God's word, these things are wrong. A.W. Tozer said on our bulletin, in every generation, every generation, the number of the righteous is small, make sure you're among them. He says there's a remnant out there, this message is for the church global, but there's going to be a small minority to say, as Joshua, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. And it's difficult, it's challenging, I'm not up here saying I've mastered everything, but look at our culture, it's infecting the church. Look at things, look at Facebook, what we post on Facebook, what we do on our weekends, what do we call entertainment, what are we watching, what are we viewing, and Christians are looking no different than the world. Where Paul tells us later, come out from among them and be separate. One thing you have to be separate in is impurity. Sexual purity is not a bad word. Sex is good and God-given, thank God for it, but when it is perverted, the word pervert comes from that, perversion is to take what is initially going a certain direction and pervert it off course, to take something how it was initially made and pervert it. And that's what society's doing, so if you do not look to God's word on a daily basis and get your mind off of that junk, you wonder why guys walk around continually feeding their mind with lust and they struggle with it, it's controlling them, sex has become a God. It's because the culture is perverting and doing it basically on purpose because they know the famous line, sex sells. What's the old saying, what happens in Vegas stays on Facebook. So all the stuff is getting out there, sexting, whatever that is now, they're texting things and young adults and it's getting out at young ages and it's a wake-up call, come out from among and be separate. God does not appreciate sexual immorality, especially among His people. It's not some weird prudish thing like the Puritans, you can't do anything, it's being bold and righteous and standing up for what is right. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart and has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor has he sworn deceitfully. For if the eye be good, the whole body be full of life. If a man even thinketh in his heart that he's lusting after a woman, he's committed adultery. As a man thinks, so is he. For if you're led by the flesh, you will feed your mind on the things of the flesh. Roman is crystal clear on this. Live by the Spirit, feed your mind on the things of the Spirit. Live by the flesh and you will die. This is serious. This is not some little topic, yeah, this and that. This is serious. I've seen pornography destroy more marriages than I can count. I've seen it reverse a normal sexuality and people start getting more perverted because the flesh is never satisfied. You realize that the flesh wants more and more and more and it perverts and it gets perverted. And God says, come back, come back to my word, to my standard. And one of my concerns is now Christians are looking to the porn industry for advice and examples and this, can we do this, can we do that? I don't know. How did God create you? Is it lawful? Is it mutually beneficial? And how did God create you? I mean, but now the porn industry is setting the standard. It's ridiculous. And I've just seen the church drifting and what happens is we become desensitized. You know what that is? It's when you no longer feel what you used to feel, you're desensitized to it. There is a lack of discernment and a lack of clarity in the church today. And I've told this story, you know, before, but it bears repeating about up in Alaska how they'll kill a wolf, you know, they'll take the knife, a big knife, and they'll dip that knife in blood, they'll let that blood freeze and then they'll put the blade up in the snow with just the blade sticking up. So the animal comes upon that knife and begins licking that blood and licking that blood and licking that blood. Within an hour or two, they're dead because their tongue was cutting on that knife and they're bleeding to death and consuming their own blood, consuming their own blood. They're bleeding. Blood is all over the snow, desensitized, desensitized. That's what's happening to the church in America. If you're not broken and humble and worshiping and getting into the word of God, asking him to direct you and wanting purity and want it. And again, it's a struggle, not a, not a, I'm not talking about perfection. This is an area most of us will struggle in, me included, absolutely. But what do you do with that struggle? Do you feed it or do you starve it? That's really, that's really what it boils down to. Do you feed that or do you, or do you starve it? Because lust and sexual perversion either grows or it withers. There's no standing, there's no middle ground. You don't just, oh, here's, I'm gonna stay all year. No, it's either growing and growing and getting more perverted and things coming in is damaging the marriage. It's damaging your character. You don't love your spouse anymore. You don't want to see them. You don't want to touch them. You don't want to be around them because now it's controlling. It's getting worse. Or you starve it, repent and get back into the word of God. Those are the choices. There's no middle ground on this topic. It's very important that we look at how and what we're feeding our mind because the battlefield is right here. The battlefield for sexual purity is right here. And I will submit to you, if you're engulfed in sexual morality, you will not be filled with the Spirit of God. You cannot be filled with the Spirit of God and be filled with lust and perversion. It's almost like there's not enough room in the house, if you know what I mean. Either you're filled with the Holy Spirit of God, yes, people struggle, I understand that, but they repent, they get back on track. I was actually going to do this later, but I'll do it now because it fits. Are you all wondering what's under here? I've been dying to do this, but it's been a while. Okay, real quick analogy. On this topic, the world in you, the Holy Spirit in you. You're going to either be filled with the world or you're going to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God, righteousness, the things of God. What happens is, things of the world. Get up, Howard Stern, I know that's a bad example, but talk radio, this and that, nothing of the things of God. You've got some Facebook images, you just, oh, this isn't working as good as I thought. I'll clean it up later. You've got all this stuff. And I'm not putting down these things per se, I'm telling you what happens. All these commercials, the Carl's Jr. commercial I talked about, oh, we better put a little more in for that one. And you just, I mean, The Bachelor, that was pretty good. What about that pornography clip I just can't really get away from, it really entices me. And then you get to work and you guys start talking about this and that, you start thinking about that girl at work and she's wearing what. And now you're filled with the world. You're not filled with the Spirit of God, nothing, it's empty. So you wonder, why am I filled with all this lust and things? Because you tell me, this is what happens, you're filled with the things of the world and the church of Jesus Christ. Why they have no discernment, why they have no power, why there's no injunction, why there's not healing taking place, lives being radically changed, repentance, marriages being restored is because we're filled with the world. So pastors want to come up and give pop psychology and seven points and a poem and no lies are affected. That's just the truth, because many times we're filled with that too. The pulpits across America are filled with the world. A.W. Tozer also talked about this in the same book, he said, who a man is all week is who he is all month is who he is when he steps to this pulpit. If I'm feeding on the things of the world, I'm going to come in here and give lifeless messages that fall on deaf ears and nothing changes. If you want your marriage restored, how in the world are you going to build a solid marriage with this junk in you all day long? The Bible's boring, Shane, I have no more passion, I don't like worship, I don't even like what you're saying. What are you filled with? Because the spirit of God is not divided. The Holy Spirit is not divided against himself. There's people in here saying, amen. There's people saying in here, how quick can I get out of here without anybody noticing? And there's people in here saying, I need to repent. Those are the three options, and that's good. I make no apologies, because that's my job, is to help build and encourage. Well, it doesn't sound like very encouraging, Shane. Oh, it is, because you know what you can do? Tonight is the same thing, the same process that filled it up, repentance, brokenness, humility, get in the Word of God, turn that darn TV off, stop renting those movies, stop going online, stop playing with that stuff, because the enemy is the prince of this world. The forces controlling this world ultimately control you if you give yourself up to that. That is how important this is, and I made a radical shift in my life when I started to put things in here that were edifying the Word of God and worship music. I mean, when I came in here, I was like, oh man, how am I going to get through all this? And then Chelsea's up there, I didn't even want to finish. I just want to sit down and worship. Lord, break my heart. People need God, they need to draw closer to Christ. And when you go back and you struggle with lust, it's probably because at 12 years old your dad wasn't there and there wasn't affection. Stop excusing, stop making blames, start repenting. The Word of God doesn't make excuses. It doesn't coddle our feelings like counselors tend to do. It crushes them. The Word of God crushes our feelings so repentance takes place. If we have a whole bunch of excuses, I just don't love my wife anymore, she's not attractive, she's not single, I'm single now, what am I supposed to do? All these excuses, the Word of God is not full of excuses, it's full of truth. And we either embrace truth or we don't. And you might say, man, this is radical. Do you know that this was normal Christianity in the early church? Now when I come up here and I see Pastor Gary here too, when he proclaims truth or I do, people think, oh, you're so extreme or so this, no, we're just going back to the early church, back to the foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. So now when we preach this, we're looked upon as extreme. Back then it was normal. So who's really drifted? Who's really drifted? We have. I'm scared now, I can't even, I'm gonna write on this topic in the Valley Press, I know as soon as I send it, they're gonna say, oh, you can't have this part in here about homosexuality, it's wrong according to God's Word. Well, you know what I'm saying, the water analogy, this is, you've gotta take, if you take anything away from this message, I hope it's this, because you can begin to clean your life, you can get back on track, but God does it. See, not you, I gotta do all this stuff, if I just don't have a TV, if I don't go to the movies, if I don't do this, if I wear a dress down to my ankles, guys don't think I'm attractive, blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no, no, you don't do anything. You live a moderate life, of course, sexual purity, women should be concerned with how they dress, because men are visual, be careful what you post, because we're not concerned about such and such, we're concerned about what you're wearing, because it's an attraction, it draws us, that's how God created us. But he says, if you come back to me, if you come back to me, if you seek me with all of your heart, repent of these things, but then you've got to remove things. Who repents and keeps playing with the enemy? That's not genuine repentance. Oh Lord, I'm so sorry, I'm still gonna click those things, I'm still gonna do those things. Me and Morgan right now are seriously considering, I have a couple guys, any questionable website I go on to my computer, goes to them, we're thinking of just putting her email on there too, because people are saying, oh, you shouldn't do that, you shouldn't, well, if there's transparency and I want true accountability, wouldn't that be something to do? Sometimes she's like, yes, no, I don't know, but I have guys that hold me accountable, anything that's questionable, we have to have those things in place. If you don't and put away things that distract you, I mean, there's certain movies we just don't watch because it's gonna stimulate unhealthy lusts in the marriage, and what happens is if you're continually feeding your mind with that on a daily basis, that's who you become. As much as we don't want to admit it, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. When I look at someone, I talk with them, I see where they're at spiritually, I can tell you exactly what they've been feeding their mind with, either the things of God or the things of the world. There's no middle ground there, though. So now that I've belabored that point many times over, and I'm gonna probably continue to do so, I'm gonna talk about the first topic, sex, gross. Do you know that the early church thought it was gross? I mean, I've got old books of the Puritans I'll read, and the wife will talk about, you know, they'll counsel another wife, they'll say, now, once a month, you've gotta perform your wifely duties, and oh, gosh, it'll be over soon, don't worry about it, and like, what the heck? I mean, yeah, we have, you know, it's like, they looked as gross, and there's some in the church who were raised never to talk about this topic, the problem is your kids are being taught at a very young age, and if you don't, as the man, it's difficult for me to talk about these things, they're gonna get it from somebody else, they wanna, why was my parents not telling me this, why didn't they explain this? And there must be, they want me to have fun, I know they want you to have fun, but they want you to do it in the right context, so it's been gross in the early church, many times, you know, if you go to Augustine, or Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Agnadius, you read some of these topics on this issue, and they're kind of, they don't wanna talk about it, you know, in the church, it's just something you don't talk about, so it's kind of brought that into the church, and you'll see the church sometimes goes to extremes, you know, sex is gross, and then the other extreme, it's like it is now sometimes, we're gonna follow the pornography industry, can we do all this stuff, can we get radical, can we get crazy, all this crazy stuff that goes on, instead of getting in the middle, what does God's word say, and you'll see a swing the church did in poverty, it was if you were, when you were so poor, you were so spiritual, the poorer you could be, the more spiritual you were, and then the church shifted back, probably 1970s, 80s, and you see now, you gotta drive a limousine, a jet, and you gotta have $10,000 every time you speak, and you got, it's poverty, I mean, it's riches, God is blessing the man of God, no, he's not, humble yourself, come back to the middle ground, but if it's not for the grace of God, there go I, he must increase, I must decrease, and so the church will see swing, the church will see, don't go to the movies at all, don't be involved in Hollywood, don't even drive down that freeway, don't dare get on the 101, don't even go down to that place of filth, the church, and then, or the other extreme, yeah, get involved, watch whatever you want, and I had a youth pastor tell me this, my mouth almost dropped, he goes, Shane, I don't care what I watch, as long as my heart is right, you don't care what you watch, as long as your heart is right, do you know that what you're watching is affecting your heart, and as you can imagine, he didn't like my message, what is that, I mean, it's because it's challenging that lifestyle, so the church, we can watch whatever we want, as long as our heart is right, doesn't matter, get involved in Hollywood, be an actress on a soap opera, kissing all these different guys, it doesn't matter, at least I'm being an example for the Lord, how do you be an example for the Lord, nobody even knows you're a Christian, you're compromising the gospel, so come back over to the middle ground, absolutely, be involved, do things, but let God truly guide you, not self-gratification, but God's Spirit, so the church has found, and it comes with sexuality as being gross, mainly because of what the Bible says about sexual immorality, so the church kind of just lumped that as a whole, anything to do with sex is bad, no, it's very good within the context of how God designed it, any time you get away from God's design, you're in trouble, and that's why I said I wrote down actually the definition of perversion, if you look in the dictionary, it's an alteration of something from its original course, Adam and Eve, Adam knew his wife, God brought them together, here's my original course, and then man takes it and perverts it from its original course, that's where we get that word from, pervert, they take what is good and pervert it, twist it, I mean we see this, I saw this in the health industry all the time, take what is good, God-given food, and pervert it, load it with all this junk, you know, all this food that's not even real, it's fake, we're perverting it, doubling the sugar content, tripling the caffeine, everything, so the addiction pulls you, pulls you, all this food we're eating, we were never even designed to eat, we were designed to eat life-giving food that dies, that's why you see this big movement now towards raw, raw food, raw vegetables, because you're eating living enzymes that are about to die, you eat those, the body takes in that living energy, the living enzymes and nutrients, and lives because of it, now we eat things that have a shelf life of 15 years, filled with polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and partial hydrogen, oil, sodium, nitrates, aspartame, all this junk that is pure junk, I don't know how we've made it so far, probably because we're fearfully and masterfully made is why, but we've perverted that, that's put in tons of sugar, tons of this, so we pervert what is good, and we get the lust of the flesh tied right in there, everything is tied to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or pride of life, that's what the enemy uses, those three things, he'll go after the lust of the flesh, what your flesh craves, or the lust of the eye, oh I sure want that, or the pride of life, so what he tried to get Jesus with in the garden, and that's what he tried to get Eve with, when she saw that the food was good to the eye, pleasant to the eye, desirable to make one wise, look good, it was there, everything was there, he hit her with all three of those, and he's doing the same thing today, so it's not gross, that's what we're telling young adults, sex is not gross, as Christians we love sex in the context within marriage, how God designed it, he did it, there's nothing wrong with that, we shouldn't be ashamed of that, but then what the culture does, and what people do in their own mind, gets distorted, and the flesh, as I said before, is never satisfied, halfway done, Ephesians 4.19, having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality, as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with continual lust for more, you have to realize that the flesh is never satisfied, the flesh is never satisfied, it'll keep getting more perverted, more outrageous, more out of control, if you do not control that area of your life, and as Christians, no temptation has overtaken you, but God, who is faithful, will not allow you or I to be tempted beyond what we are able, but with that temptation, makes a way that you may be able to escape, Paul says later, make no provision for the flesh, provision is forethought or foreplanning, don't plan ahead for the flesh, Paul says to starve the flesh, but it's the same Paul who said, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death, I do the things I don't want to do, but with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh I serve the law of sin, the flesh is never satisfied, and I will submit to you that I believe that sexual immorality has been the destructive force that's come against the church and the children of God since even the beginning with Adam and Eve, you know, look at the children of Israel, we talked about the doctrine of Balaam a few weeks ago, the children of Israel were blessed, and Balak said, I can't curse them, they're blessed, he told the king, I can't curse them, they're blessed, but I'll tell you what I can do, I'll lead them away with sexual immorality, and they'll curse themselves, less of the flesh, do we even need to talk about David and Bathsheba, do we even need to talk about what the prophets wrote about on sexual idolatry, an adulterous nation they would call them, then we get into the New Testament, it is so severe that Hebrews says that the marriage bed is undefiled, but fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, God will judge, He says it, we can say that in a spirit of love, I mean if we truly love, let's just say if we truly love someone struggling with the same sex attraction, if we truly love them, do we tell them, no, everything's fine, don't worry about it, as long as you love the other person, that's natural, that's how God created you, whew, glad I avoided that controversy, glad I didn't, you know, glad he's still my friend, I didn't want to upset him, do you truly love that person, or do you truly love them, saying, here, we're here for you, we understand you, how can we help you, because God's crystal clear on this, you need to repent of this, it's clear in God's word, from Leviticus to Romans to many different things, I mean do we truly love somebody with warning them, the problem is the church has this image of hell, fire and brimstone and some guy yelling, people saying you're going to hell, and there's no love there, but if you have love but no truth, it's equally damaging, because you lead them to hell, but you're holding their hand on the way, what's the difference, is there really a difference there, and you have to remember, well, does homosexuality go to hell or does this go to hell, you go to hell because you reject Jesus Christ, God sent his son to die for this world, whoever accepts and trusts in Christ is saved, so it's not like by doing certain things you go to hell, it's by not accepting Christ, however, a genuine relationship should be reflected in our lifestyle, if you guys ever have the John MacArthur study bible, look in the back, they give a lot of characteristics of genuine fruit, it's very helpful, but the top of the list, genuine faith, genuine faith is reflected in a transformed life, a love for God and his word, sincere humility, selfless love, and believe it or not, a disconnect from the world, there shouldn't be a loving the things of the world, because the world, the carnal mind is at enmity with God, and that's, it's hard to find that balance, because you're not supposed to go live out in a tent out in the Antelope Acres and don't ever talk to anybody, just bring me food, that's not, we're in the world, we're living in the world, absolutely, but do we love the things of the world, the world's mindset, because that's genuine faith, is reflected in our lifestyle, so my thought is, if somebody doesn't care about sexual perversion, they enjoy it, and they say, well, I said a quick little prayer when I was younger, but I'm gonna enjoy this lifestyle, I love it, I don't care what anybody has to say, I would seriously have you question the sincerity of your commitment, have you truly been converted, because a person who's been truly converted, and I've given that analogy before, it's like the pig and the lamb, both find their way to the mud, but the lamb cries out and hates its miserable condition, the pig wallows and enjoys it, that's the difference between a lifestyle and a struggle, we all struggle with this issue, but the lifestyle is, what do you do with it, do you wallow in it, enjoy it, and what I'm saying bothers you, if God's word bothers you, you have to ask what spirit is within you, what is truly guiding you, because I'm equally alarmed at how many churches are filled with people who have no true knowledge of God, they've been raised in a Christian home or raised their hand or came forward, but there's been no conversion in their life, there's nothing's changed, if nothing's changed, nothing's changed, when God converts you, your life radically changes, you look at life a lot differently, and on that note, I want to just read Romans 1, I highlighted this to pull this out, and I want to read this to you, it's a little bit long, but I think it masterfully puts together right where we're at, if you don't have your Bibles, you can just listen, but listen to every single sentence that Paul is saying, he's talking to the church in Rome, opening chapter, he's going to load the gun and he's going to shoot straight the first chapter, Romans 1 18, there's going to be some words in here you don't like, some topics you don't like, but this, if I can't preach this, I need to resign, if I can only read the pleasantries, you've got the wrong guy, it's the whole counsel of God, as I said before, it's actually the counsel of God when it convicts the heart is when the heart changes, the heart doesn't change if all you do is feed the poor, turn the other cheek, Jesus loves, love your enemies, isn't that wonderful, that's all you read, then you're just living, love, love, love, that's great, but what about the other scriptures, the warning scriptures, oh those, I don't like those, I had somebody tell me that, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, the wrath of God, we don't like to hear that anymore, but Romans says that for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Paul is saying that men are suppressing the truth, because what may be known of God is manifested in them, for God has shown it to them, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, so in a nutshell, Paul is saying, listen, you are without excuse, everybody listen, you are without excuse, because Paul is saying his invisible attributes are clearly seen, and I've talked about this before, go on and listen to why I believe, I've talked about the sun being just the right distance from the earth, to not vaporize it, if we were closer, and the gravitational pull, and the oxygen level, and the nitrogen, everything is just so perfect, that it actually takes more faith to believe that all this happened because of a big explosion, big explosion, here we go, yeah, oh sure, absolutely, come on, I mean I'm not mocking, I'm saying really think about this, so Paul is saying, you are suppressing the truth, and you are without excuse, because God is clearly seen, I mean when you walked in the church, clearly somebody put the chairs up like this, I don't care, it would take a million years, and the chairs are not gonna come out of some pile, and sit up like this, and that's just chairs, I'm talking about the creation of the universe, think about it, God gave us a mind, he said come let us reason together, think about these things, my invisible attributes are clearly seen, Paul says because although they knew God, which no, yeah, I think there's a God maybe out there somewhere, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, but they became futile in their thoughts, right up here, they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened, as the thoughts go, so goes the heart, it's been said that our thoughts become words, our words become actions, our actions become habits, and your habits will shape your lifestyle, right here, it all starts right here, before that man walks out the door, files for divorce, and has an affair, right here, everything starts in the mind, it's how God created us, the soul, the seed of our emotion, our intellect, the mind, and often in the Hebrew, the mind and the heart are used interchangeably, the heart of God, the heart, the mind of man, everything is in that point of our intellect, it's how we think, it's who we are, basically, our soul, our body, our mind, he said professing to be wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things, therefore, because of this, because they suppress the truth and reject God, God gave them up to uncleanness, so God basically said, you want it, you got it, your foolish hearts are darkened, you're suppressing the truth, I'm giving you up to uncleanness, and the lust of their hearts, they dishonored their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and they worshipped and they served the creature rather than the creator, that's what sexual immorality is, you're worshipping the creation, just like pagan practices, the bedroom is a pagan shrine, the bed is the altar, and the bodies are the living sacrifice, they're worshipping to the God of sexual immorality, Paul is saying that, God gave them up to the base and corrupted mind, because they rejected Him, verse 26, for this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature, and likewise, the men, leaving the natural use of a woman, burned in lust for one another, men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error, and even as they did not like to retain God, God gave them over to a debase and corrupted mind, John Piper goes as far as saying that the sexual disordering of the human race is God's judgment upon us, and I believe that's true, the sexual disordering of the human race, when we talk about God's judgment, it's not necessarily God doing this or judging, He's retracting, withdrawing, when Israel, the nation of Israel was judged, God says I will walk away and allow your enemies to overtake you, I was your shelter, I was your covering, I was your sanctuary, I could kill 185,000 Assyrians in one night, I am your strength Israel, I am your guard, I am your fortress, but you've rejected me, so I give you up judgment to your enemies, that's all judgment is, I give you up to what you want, so now God says I give you up to your debase and perverted mind, you want it, you got it, the judgment of God, the sexual disordering of the human race, that's why we see, I believe, a perversion, we see all these things from bestiality and pedophilia and homosexuality, everything, I'm talking about everything outside the context of marriage between a man and a woman, Jesus said that God will judge fornicators, fornicators, what's that word? Pornia, in the Greek means anything outside of sex between a man and a woman, that's what the Bible says, I mean it's crystal clear, what I would do if I don't like it, I would say, well God it's you, it's your word, let me submit to it, versus trying to twist this and convert to what I want, that's what's going in our culture, we don't want to like what God's word says, we want to silence everybody, and we might not be able to talk about this topic in five years without somebody coming in and arresting me, trust me, and people don't understand it's just the truth to help, because if there is a God and there is, and he says I will judge as sexually immoral and he will, had we not warned them, what kind of pastor am I? Do I really believe what I'm preaching? If I don't believe it, why am I even preaching? So that's all of the sexual perversion is, is God saying I gave them up to debase and corrupt their mind because they worship the creation and not the creator, there it is in a nutshell, everything from all illicit types of sex is right there, because humankind suppresses the truth, inner righteousness, they reject God and God turns them over basically to themselves, do you know I'm more worried about what's in here than the enemy? I'm my worst enemy, we are our worst enemies, what's in us, sin nature, that sin nature is ready to rear its ugly head any minute, and that's what God does, he gives us over to what we want at some point, so it's not gross and the next point is it's good, hopefully we can get to that, is it going on too long yet? No, okay, everybody's saying don't skip this part, it's the best part, yeah, well, yeah, let's get to this first, verse 3, the husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife and likewise the wife to her husband, the wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband, in the same way the husband's body does not belong to him alone but to his wife, so as we talked about before, sex, God created it and marriage deteriorates, I've seen it every single time, marriage deteriorates because more attention is given to self than spouse, anytime it's all about me, again don't look to me, I haven't mastered it, go talk to my mom or something after the service, but anytime it's about me, the marriage deteriorates, but when it's about the spouse and understanding and relating and coming together and being friends and looking at marriage as a shelter, I counsel guys sometimes that are already into pornography, yeah, but that'll change when I get married, no it doesn't, it does not change when you get married, the lust is still there because the enemy still works and he uses that to pull you away from your spouse, you realize that the enemy is sent to kill, to steal and to destroy, that's his goal, that's his agenda, he's not here to kind of ruin your day, upset you a little bit, maybe give you a flat tire, his ultimate goal is to kill, to steal and to destroy, and he'll use sexual perversion, sexual morality to break the marriage apart more than anything else, along with what I talked about last week, anger, and marriage, what I liken it to is like guardrails, I've talked about this before, God's principles are the guardrails through the canyons of life, okay, they're there for a reason, we want to remove the guardrails and drive right off the cliff, so that's the point of marriage between a man and a woman, God created, God designed it that way, anything outside of that is how, you just look at how creation is created, so marriage is a shelter, it's a safe haven, also I put down here, sex is one of the most important aspects of a healthy marriage, note that word there, healthy marriage, there's a lot of marriages here, or not here necessarily, but in our nation where they're not that healthy, the sexual part of it is not there, I know there's different areas, sickness, people going through things, I know there's definitely exceptions to this rule of course, but sexual union should be part of a healthy marriage, it's okay to be attractive to your spouse, that's a good thing, and that union, it's almost like Dobson would say it's a glue that can keep that couple together, not that we focus on it or we idolize it, because sex can become a God in marriage too, it can become a God to people, but it helps keep that healthy relationship going, and remember again, men are visual, women are more sensual, or emotional, or relational, so you've got to work through that whole thing, the guy just wants to see, the woman wants to hear, and feel, and talk, and listen, so you've got to bring that into consideration, and make this work, guys, we're wired differently, but God did it that way, thank God, if we were like women, we'd just sit and talk all day, there'd be nothing, nothing, there wouldn't be, well you know what I'm saying, right, that's not a bad thing, I'm just saying we talk all day, and if it was just all guys, it just, you know, I won't go there, I knew this was going to be a hard topic, you know it was so sad when I worked in the fitness industry, and I was responsible for I think $300,000 a month when I was over all these clubs, and I had to generate all this revenue, and we knew as soon as somebody walked in, they said, I'm coming in, I'm going through divorce, I'm going for a separation, man, $1,000 membership, supplements, personal training, because now they're going to get in shape, they're going to show that spouse, why didn't they care when they were married? And always, you know, now I'm going to show them, now I'm going to get, I mean, without fail, you have somebody separated, divorced, coming in, they're signing up for a membership, probably for three years, they're probably going to start that day, they want to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, I'm going to show that guy, I'm going to show her, I'm going to get in great shape, but what's motivating you? What's motivating me is now I'm on the hunt, yeah, but you lost the prey initially, now you're going, what's going on here, but see how our society thinks, they want to make them jealous, they want to make them regretful, they want to, now I've got them back on the market, now I've got to be ready, it's like we're presenting this facade. It was every time, without fail, we used to joke about it, because somebody comes in and they say, yeah, I'm going through, you know, they wouldn't open up initially, but as you're talking to them, as soon as they said that, you say, okay, let me just pull out a contract, I mean, you want one year, Jamie, you remember, you know, he personal trained a lot of people when I had those gyms, and it was, once you got people separated or divorced, they wanted that body to look good and to be in shape, and I said, we should be concerned our whole life, because it's not about sexual image of this idol we worship, it's just about taking care of ourselves, if it boils down to, and our spouse, we should be concerned with, you know, how we look to them as well as to others, I mean, it's not something we get caught up on, of course, but it should be, you know, it should be something that's relevant in our society today, I'll quit there, too, because I'm going to walk into a hole on that one, the last thing, God, sex as God, and I think I pretty much beat that drum enough, but suffice it to say that Hebrew, look out, you might say, what's the big deal, Shane, you just don't, Christians just don't have it, Christians don't want, and I talk to guys, I say, Christians just don't want us, you know, you guys don't want us to have sex, and yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, and dude, no, I want you to have sex, I hope you do, I hope you have a lot of sex, I hope you get married and have it, absolutely, please do, some of you need to tonight, it's been too long, I mean, it's just, we, that's a good thing, and there's nothing, God created it, I'm just promoting what He created, but when it becomes God, that's the, that's a big concern, why is it a big concern, well, look at just Hebrews 13, four, for one example, let marriage be held in honor among all, and just in case you're not clear on this, God is saying, let marriage between a man and a woman be honored, that's how He created it, that's how He designed it, if you're upset, go to the Creator, not me, go to Him, He designed it that way, but He goes on to say, but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers, 1 Corinthians, or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, that's pretty serious, Paul goes on to say, don't be deceived, because many people were, neither the sexually immoral, nor the idolaters, nor the adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality will enter the kingdom of God, say Shane, you're really picking on this topic, I'm not doing it on purpose, I'm doing it because it fits within the context of the topic, and we can't avoid it, these scriptures are crystal clear, that if we, and here's the red flag for me, if a person is actively engaging, and there's no conviction, they, it's no big deal, they're unconcerned, you have to wonder where is their faith, do they have genuine saving faith, because God will judge those who are sexually immoral, the reason is because often those people don't have a relationship with Him, because they've given in to those desires, and they're allowing that lifestyle to pull them away, those who truly know God cry out to Him, Lord help me with these areas, help me with these addictions, Lord help me with my thought life, help me with this, you know, and that's one reason, Morgan will attest to this too, she thought I was when she first met me at the gym, I was kind of arrogant, don't talk to a lot of girls, well there's a reason why, talking leads to more talking, talking leads to building relationships, building relationships leads to you know what, so you have to have a standoffish hi, how are you doing, to those you're attracted to, as a precaution, that's all, a precaution, you have to, you have to put up guardrails, because the enemy's coming in every chance he has, he'll go after your thought life, he'll go after your work environment, he'll go after the neighbor next door, he'll go and just keep at you, it's constant, because lust is constantly there, I used to pray, Lord take this away, and they'd think no, no, don't, don't take it away, just, just, you know, certain times, I mean, but it's not like that, we have to fight this, this thing, and the fight for sexual purity is going to be ongoing, but you can be victorious, if, a lot of it goes back to this, what are you feeding your mind with, so sex as God is dangerous, because God says he will judge those who are making it their God, but the excuses go, and I've wrote down three, and I'll be out of your hair, deception, number one, we're in love, we're in love, it's okay, no, you're not in love, you're in lust, let me say that again, you are not in love, you are in lust, because true love waits, true love will say, because I cherish you, because I want to know God's will in this area, because I want to see if we're truly seeking him, and in his will, I'm going to wait, love is patient, love is hopeful, it doesn't envy, it doesn't boast, but it goes on to say that love perseveres, it trusts, it protects, that's what true love does, I don't know where this is going, and I don't want you to carry around extra baggage if it falls apart, because when you go into other relationships, you're carrying all this other baggage, sexual intimacy from other couples, trust me, I know, I had a promiscuous lifestyle, and Morgan was as well, before we were Christians, we carry all this baggage in, all this jealousy, all this false expectations, all this, everything comes with us, and that's what we meant, we decided, listen, we're not going to even go there in this area, we want to do things right, and it even got difficult, you know, as you're, as you're, as you're being affectionate, and this is getting difficult, we finally said, let's not even kiss for six months until we get married, that's how radical, you say, oh Shane, that's a little prudish, I don't care what you call it, I don't want my wife to be a future regret, because sexual attraction is so strong, you have to put up safeguards, and say, listen, we'll just do that, and then we can do a lot of it afterwards, you know, but it was that, because I could say, this is drawing me well, this is not going good, the enemy's going to take me down real quick, I'm not that strong, that's why you have safeguards, that's why Christians sometimes go on dates with other people, they don't want to spend a lot of time alone, and they don't want to get into this, this big, you know, make out session while they're dating, because it's going to take them down a road that they know they're going to regret, and you cannot, you will not discern God's will if you're actively engaging in sexual immorality, that was point number two, we need to try this out, we need to see if it's God's will, no, it's not God's will, because you're already out of His will, you're already out of His will, and I talk to couples a lot, we don't know if this is God's will, are you sexually active, well, absolutely, you're not in God's will already, how are you going to determine if this is God's will when you're already out of His will, when you're out of His will, He's not truly guiding you, as a matter of fact, He's not guiding you, lust is guiding you, attraction is guiding you, selfish ambition is guiding you, the lust of the flesh is pulling you, that's what's leading you, so you wonder why you're confused, why you're this, because God is not truly leading you, it deceives you at its core, because I'm in love, it's okay, the Bible says never, ever, ever, ever, ever have sex when you're in love, it says when you come together as marriage, between a man and a woman, committing for life, this is who God brought me, I've committed to you, now we can actively engage in that, that's what the Bible says, it's not just because you love, because love is a feeling, that kind of love is not love, it's lust, and the guy wants to move in with you, you want to know why he wants to move in, it's sex more often, that's the reason, let's just be honest, the guy wants to move in because it's sex more often, the girl wants to move in because now I can watch him, see, both have ulterior motives, they wonder why it's not working out, and when I did, I did statistics on moving in together before marriage, and it would blow your mind at the research, it talks about, this one guy put, many believe the myth that they are in a trial marriage, actually it's more like a trial divorce, more than eight out of ten couples will break up either before the wedding, or afterwards in divorce, we just want to try it out, we want to see if it's God's will, it's not a God's will, you're already outside of it, so those are the deceptions, we're in love, it doesn't matter, if he loves you, he will not push you, if somebody truly loves you, they will not push you, if they're pushing you into this, they don't love you, they've got ulterior motives and they want to put a lighter notch on their belt there, they just want to satisfy their own lust, they're not in love with you, they're lusting, and then other people say, see if we're compatible, it builds trust, it doesn't build trust, it takes away trust, those who are cohabitating, another tough word for me, they don't have levels of trust, they wonder, is he going to leave, he can leave, I mean, we're just living it, I mean, there's nothing there, there's no commitment, not only that, they're not in God's will, so there's no trust issues there, and the thing falls apart, and then number three, as I already talked about, it helps us determine God's will, no, it doesn't help you determine God's will, and the sad reality is, promiscuous singles become promiscuous spouses, you better take that one to memory, you better tell some young couples dating, promiscuous singles become promiscuous spouses, you don't say, I do, and then instantly develop godly character, you take into the marriage, that's why I tell guys all the time, who you are as a single is who you're going to be when you get married, so you better build that solid foundation right now, because the enemy's coming in like a flood, and only the Spirit of the Lord can raise up a standard against him, how does the Spirit of the Lord raise up a standard against the enemy? By purity, and repentance, and holiness, and righteousness, these are not outdated words, folks, these are words that we need to preach in our pulpits again, we need to come back to purity, and holiness, and righteousness, not in condescending, arrogant Pharisees, but as Christians, broken, repent, wanting to seek the hand of the Father, and you know I love revivals, and reading about revivals, and Chelsea, you can come on up and close with the song, or two, I mean, it's up to you, but anytime I read about revivals, and God reviving His church, it's when prayer was happening, and fasting, and brokenness, and humility, we're saying, Lord, come revive our church, but we look more like the porn industry than powerful Christians, we're allowing Hollywood, not the Holy Spirit to guide us, lust, we're looking to lust, not the Lord, and somebody's got to come in and start raising an alarm, and sounding an alarm, and we're in this together, I mean, lust hits me just like it hits anybody else, that's why you've got to have things in place, and precautions, and say, how are you going to battle it, I'm going to get in my car, and put on Hillsong worthy as a lamb, instead of some junk that's just going to, you know, pull me away, it's another reason I stopped listening to country music, those things are making, I was drunk the day my mama got out of prison, and you start just going back, and thinking that lifestyle, and being careful with what you allow into your mind, I mean, George Strait can make you really go back in those times, and begin to think about those things, and that's how powerful the mind is, see, I'm not just beating up on these things, I'm just saying that's how powerful influence they are, they're going to spend a million dollars for a 30 second thing not thinking it influences you, come on, we've got to wake up, culture, Hollywood is influencing us, and they're infecting us with this disease known as sin and sexual morality, but be encouraged, as I said many times before, Jeremiah 29, God said, you will seek me, and you will find me, when you seek me with all of your heart, it's always a heart issue, and as I said last week, are we truly living for the things that Christ died for, sexual and morality put Christ on the cross, pornography put him on the cross, homosexuality put him on the cross, illicit sex put him on the cross, everything, that was the price of sin, so now we have the audacity to play with and enjoy the very thing that he died for, and the church has got to wake up, and she's got to repent, I'm going to preach that word until the day I die, the church, our only hope is repentance, because repentance is changing the way you think, repenting of that, worldly thought, and changing your mind and your actions, and saying, Lord, I need you, I'm repenting of my sin, I'm trusting in you, so if you're bound in pornography, you're bound in sexual morality, you're bound in lust, God wants to release that, or if you don't even know him tonight, you're searching for him, all you have to do is cry out and say, Lord, I need you, Lord, I need you tonight, will you take me, Lord, I repent of my sin, I need you, God is in the business of cleaning up people, the Holy Spirit comes in and gives us different desires and different things, to want to hunger after God, Jesus said, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled, where is that hunger and thirst for righteousness anymore, I talk about this topic, half the church, oh gosh, what's this guy talking about, can't we just have quick sermonettes and positive thinking and all this great stuff, as the church is dying, as little kids are experimenting at 10 years old, becoming pregnant at 12, and the church is falling apart because of sexual immorality, no, we must sound the alarm, we must sound it loud, we must sound it strong, and we must sound it long, the church has got to come back, she's got to come back to the Lord, that's the only hope, dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we ask that this message will go out, Lord, and change lives tonight, that men would be released of their bondage, and women would be released of what they've been carrying, Lord, emotional scars, promiscuity, Lord, they can give it to you, they can know the good shepherd, Lord, your word says that those who have been forgiven much, love much, Lord, those who have been forgiven of all of these things and all this past, Lord, we just want to follow you wholeheartedly, we want you to guide us, Lord, we want you to direct us, Lord, I pray tonight, if there's people here who don't truly know you, that they will, during worship, just cry out to you, and say, Lord, I need you, I give my life to you, I'm done, I'm done with the things of the world, Lord, will you enter my life and change me, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.